Anathema
by Doomspawn
Summary: Fate was defied. But in destroying the 108th fruit, the plan was merely interrupted. In the disturbing tide of consequences to come the frightening truth of the cycle of the Divine Tree will unfold, revealing the true reality of the god of destruction.
1. prologue

**Anathema**

_prologue_

* * *

On the fringes of the smoldering crater where the Moon that Never Sets had been destroyed only hours prior, a weary figure moved amongst the burning debris, choking on the smoke and soot that still lingered in the air from the cataclysmic explosion. The trembling form crawled slowly across the steaming, ashen dirt, stilling every couple of moments to cough up the contaminants that hovered above the ground as a thick, suffocating haze of grey. It invaded the throat like a dry fire, burning the lungs and leaving a sulfurous taste on the tongue.

Squinting and shielding their eyes from the dust carrying on the stale and heated wind, the dark shape inched their way farther over the scorched, lifeless ground, the tattered remains of their clothing saturated in a mix of blackened soil and blood. The minutes that passed seemed infinite, the figure painfully pulling themselves along, but giving pause as a faint shimmer only a small ways off caught their eye.

Hands and knees scraped against shards of burnt and broken stone as the battered form scrambled over to the object, a crimson-soaked arm stretching out shakily to scoop it up into their grip as soon as it was within reach. Despite the cinders it was laying among, it was cool to the touch, what little light that made it through the dust clouds glinting with a dim wink off its glossy surface.

Clutching the item tightly in their quivering grasp, a long and tired breath silently escaped through split, bleeding lips, eyes slipping shut and body slumping to the rocky crater floor. And in reaction to being held, the smooth, palm-size gem resonated with a dull, dark violet glow.


	2. Whispers

**Disclaimer:** I do not own "Legend of Dragoon" or anything associated with the aforementioned game. The plot, however, is entirely my own creation, as are a number of characters who play a role in the story later on.

**A/N:** I about had a heart attack from the overjoy of finally getting my head straight about this accursed fic. Any troubles I was having have since vanished, and, assuming it stays that way... -.-; ...I can hopefully finally get this thing moving. Also, I apologize for the variations and/or changes in certain aspects, but they were necessary in order for the plot I'm envisioning to work. Mainly, the way the story starts out. Yes, I'm inconsistent. So sue me.

* * *

**Anathema**

_chapter 1_

* * *

_Virage Embryo. The 'god of destruction'._

_It was maddening; the call in her mind had become a throbbing, insatiable yearning. It passionately cried out in the most horrible, piercing wail, desperately thirsting to become whole. The lusting desire swimming through her was overwhelming, lighting every fiber of her being ablaze in burning white agony and forcing her to the edge of her sanity. She could feel it inside her... growing... swallowing her consciousness and looming over her like a dread shadow. With every moment that passed the feeling of that dark, fated power crept closer, until she was certain she would be consumed by it. It exultantly hungered for her... craving her._

_To reunite._

_She could feel her spirit being rent asunder as it resisted the terrible force tearing it from her being, splitting and causing her head to swarm with blinding pain. It was as if flames of the hottest inferno were enveloping her, burning both inside and out, the dancing tongues licking at her very soul. As the smothering heat closed in still tighter around her, she felt as though she was unable to breathe, suffocating in the crackling wreathes of black fire that threatened to devour her._

_Only faint were the clamors of battle, the echoes of steel ringing through the hazy air distant to her, accompanied now and again by muffled shouts of urgent, angry voices. There were sudden bursts of cold, wind, thunder, light, and most of all... fire. She could feel the air being ripped to shreds and sense the pulse of magic, like thousands of tiny knives stabbing into her mind. She wasn't certain how long the conflict had lasted, but she soon found herself sharing in the trepidation of those standing below her, and an utterly black psyche overflowing with dark ecstasy and greed._

_The sensations, the pain, the aching screams from within- they all vanished so abruptly that for a moment, she thought she might have died, finding herself suddenly free of all the strain and pressure on her spirit. Free from the world around her. Free from everything but that desperate languishing that plagued her all the more strongly as she was severed from her nearing union. The stress on her mind dissipated, and the insufferable heat engulfing her flickered out, leaving behind only an empty, deathly cold. Subconsciously she raged at it, and she thought she might cry, some primal yet infantile instinct for when fervent want and need is denied._

_Though slowly, everything began fading from her perception, from whereas she had just been drowning in a burning sea of torment, a frozen numb now filled the entirety of her being, swallowing her away into an abyss and leaving her alone and embraced only in darkness._

_Yet despite the thickening disclarity closing her ever-tighter into its black, cloudy midst, the gentle whisper that lilted through her head was perfectly clear. It was like a quiet, wistful breath of thought, bringing with it a strange sense of comfort, yet at the same time frightening to the core. It echoed softly throughout her mind's ear, calm amidst the chaos of her unexplained frustration and confusion._

_'My world. My future. My heart.'_

_The words left a lasting impression within the depths of her soul as she fell further and further into the chasm of numb. She felt as if she was coming apart, unraveling into nothingness and leaving behind only an emptiness within her that sunk far deeper than the dark void into which she was disappearing. The only proof she had that she was even still alive were the vague, distant emotions not her own that had begun to swell in the back of her mind, alerting her in some inexplicable way to the reality that existed outside of the blackness she was trapped within._

_'My heart. My child.'_

_The passage of time was indeterminable, lost in the continuing numb, but the force that brushed past her awareness next roused her from her catatonic state and made her shudder. She could only just barely feel its presence, but even that was enough to send chills down her back even despite the horrid cold that already held her in its grasp._

_Emotions of bottomless animosity, hate, and rancor plowed her over like a flood that had just burst from the dam, replacing the emptiness dulling her senses and causing her to cringe. The swelling anger and malice felt as though there was no end to it, seething more horribly by the moment, unfathomable, and it made her mind reel. Though even amongst the sudden, disorienting disarray, a lone voice cut through, unmistakably familiar._

_"Divine Dragon Cannon!"_

_Even from within her prison of nothing, she could clearly feel the raw, unbridled power that was unleashed, but more so was the crippling eruption of sorrow, suffering, and desperation that racked every corner of her existence and crushed her completely. She wasn't sure if she'd cried out or not, for all she could hear was the deafening scream inside her soul that made her believe her skull would shatter at any moment._

_Again she heard the call... Virage... weaker now, crying for her. For survival. Despite it having gone nearly as soon as it'd come, that moment felt like eternity, the whisper within her, too, dying away as the force against her mind became too great and she was again lost into an empty blackness, succumbing to total unconsciousness._

_'My child. My will...'_

_When she finally came to, there remained nothing of her inner hell, only the sight of the world around her burning and crumbling to pieces, and descending toward her from above the presence whose ancient power still chilled her._

_"Shanaaa!"_

_The rest existed only as a blur, watching as the dark and crimson streaks shot through the fiery air toward Melbu Frahma as he resurfaced. As the two plunged their attack into the very heart of the Wingly demigod. As she and the one whose embrace she was in were suddenly torn away and pulled from the scene of the apocalypse._

_The world was falling apart, disintegrating before her eyes as they fled, the pull in the deepest part of her being growing still weaker the farther away they went. The last feelings before they faded completely were those of a sense of mournful longing, which also vanished as she watched the thing that had haunted her for so long annihilate itself in the most furious explosion she ever witnessed._

_And then... emptiness._

Pale, sweaty brow knitted into a grimace, the girl writhed about beneath the tangled sheets, her fingers rigid and clenching the heavy, velveteen fabric, knuckles white. A low moan escaped her throat as she turned about, tiny saltine rivulets winding down the curves in her face and through her hair, adding to the already damp stains of perspiration on the pillow. Biting her lower lip as she struggled, a small bubble of rich scarlet welled up from where teeth had broken through the skin, and began dribbling little by little over her cheek.

The crooked wooden bed frame groaned again as she turned from her back onto her stomach, curling into herself and scrunching her face tighter as the nightmare finally melted away, leaving in its place that haunting whisper. It was the same as she had heard all that time ago, always coming to her in that brief, foggy place between dreams and consciousness when one is just beginning to wake- when one's link with reality is at its weakest. Her whole body shook as her mind and soul were invaded, plagued by that eerie, soothing voice.

_'My world. My heart. Soon.'_

Burying her face deeper into the dank warmth of her pillow she breathed out a soft whimper, her shoulders trembling as she hugged the covers still tighter to herself.

_'My child. Be strong.'_

Another shudder violently racked her body as a gentle hand came to rest across her forehead, wiping away the sweat saturating her brow with a cool washrag and brushing aside the wet chestnut strands matted messily to her face.

"Shana?"

"Ahh- no..." she mumbled as she unconsciously tried to pull away from the hand.

"Shana... wake up, honey."

Eyelids twitching, the girl wearily eased back into consciousness, her grip on the bed sheets finally relaxing and her furrowed brow smoothing over. Rolling onto her side she reached blindly for the hand she felt upon her head, her fingers brushing over those of another after a moment of searching. Her hand was clasped tenderly, and again came the sensation of something cool across her forehead, a few icy droplets trickling down over her hot skin.

Her eyes flickered open after another minute, meeting with those of the woman sitting on the bed beside her. Lovingly she trailed her fingers through the length of the girl's moist, stringy hair, and offered her a warm smile.

"Mm... oh. Mother?"

"It's all right, dear. I'm right here." the woman cooed, gently brushing her hand down the side of her daughter's clammy cheek before readjusting the cloth on her brow.

Shana returned her mother's smile, albeit weakly, letting her tired gaze wander past the woman and over to the flickering oranges and reds of the flames dimly illuminating the room. They cast the drab, earthen walls in their dull, fiery gleam and bathed the basement chamber in a mix of swimming light and dancing shadow, almost making her feel as though she might still be dreaming.

Against the wavering luminance, lily-filled vases seemed to glow upon the bedside table which they were placed, their glassy surfaces reflecting the warm light and splaying the grainy wooden top of the nightstand with a few offset shades of scarlet. The pale petals of the still blooming flowers also adopted a faint, rosy hue, even the water within which they rested glimmering in a soft, pinkish tone.

The air itself looked almost glazed, in a way, the small room a bit stifled from lack of ventilation save for the occasional downdraft via the makeshift chimney- which seemingly only served to scatter the ashes strewn about its base. Snapping noisily, the burning wisps clawed hungrily at each breeze, feeding off the fresh drafts whenever they found their way down the sooty flue. The sight and warmth of the flames unintentionally stirred a particular memory, one that Shana inwardly scolded herself for and dismissed disapprovingly with a shake of her head.

_Dart..._

"I'm afraid the doctor from Kazas won't be here for yet another week, still." her mother sighed, beginning again to stroke Shana's hair. "Your father and I are tired of waiting while you sink deeper into poor health, so we're discussing taking you there ourselves. Do you think you have enough strength to make the trip, honey?"

"Mm... I- what?" Shana asked as she placed a hand over her eyes, loosing a little sigh of her own and wiping at her cheek before looking back up. "I- I'm sorry, mother."

"Shana..." she started with a note of concern. "We're really beginning to worry. You keep falling ill so often, especially since Dart-"

"Mother," the former dragoon interrupted in a pleading tone. "I don't need... Dart."

"But you-"

"It- it isn't his fault I'm... like this. Please, let's just-" Leaving her sentence unfinished, Shana rubbed at her forehead, taking in and letting out a slow, heavy breath.

Exhaling in a defeated manner, the woman solemnly nodded, giving Shana's hand a light squeeze. "All right, dear. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but... please promise me you'll be strong. You've been sick so much lately. I really can't figure why you refuse to contact that friend of yours with the magic healing stone."

_...be strong?_

Shaking away the memory of the voice that said the very same thing to her, she stared absently at the fireplace, watching as a few steaming embers leapt from the burning tinder out onto the charred brick hearth. They landed on the pitted stones with a quiet hiss, flickering once or twice more before winking out and crumbling into black-speckled ash.

"Miranda is a Sacred Sister, mother. She has an entire country to worry about. I'll... be fine."

Another sigh parted the silence as the woman pushed to her feet, sweeping a couple auburn locks behind her ear and slanting her daughter a sorrowful look. "...I hope you're right."

Shana opened her mouth to reply, but the knock that came at the door beat her to it. Giving her hand one last squeeze, her mother slid away and moved for the room's exit. "Your friend said she wanted to talk to you one more time before she left the village. I'll leave the two of you alone."

Giving the knob a quick turn, she pulled the door open, stepping to the side to allow Shana's visitor in before moving through to the stairwell and tugging the rickety piece of wood shut behind her. It gave a light 'click' as it sunk into place, the woman who had just entered lingering by the doorway and sliding her gaze from the floor over onto the bed-ridden girl.

"How are you feeling?"

"Still not very well." Shana smiled faintly, pushing herself some into a sitting position on the bed, the white and tan sheets clinging to her legs. "Thank you... for coming to see me, though."

Her company offered no reply, simply moving across the room and making to sit upon the edge of the bed where Shana's mother had been previously. She leveled her stare on the girl, idly tossing a bit of hair behind her shoulder with a flick of the wrist, seeming almost as though she was preoccupied with something else. "Are you still having the nightmares?"

Folding her hands atop her knees, Shana bobbed her head in a nod. "Yes."

More quietly, "...and the whispers?"

Another nod, though hesitant, and with an almost sad expression. "...yes."

"What does it say to you?" the woman asked with like hesitation after a few moments had passed.

"Um, it- it keeps repeating the same things over and over." A pause. "Like 'my heart', 'my child', and 'soon'. And... even though it isn't spoken, exactly, I can feel a sort of gentleness from it. Like it doesn't want me to feel... abandoned." Looking over at the fire again, Shana chewed her lip, a small chill running up her back despite the toasty environment of the room as she thought about the sound of the voice.

"Abandoned?" Her brow knitting, she let her eyes drift to the floor, lips pursing in troubled thought.

"Yes, but... I don't know what it means." Arms working their way around her legs, Shana hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top and closing her eyes. "I don't... know what to do. The voice feels so familiar somehow. Like I know it, but can't remember why."

Moving to stand again, her visitor folded her arms beneath her chest and paced halfway across the room, her gaze still pointedly downward. "...is it like when you were called by Virage?"

"I... I'm not sure." she answered, growing quiet at the thought. Virage. It'd lulled her into a trance every time she heard the call, possessing her mind and gripping her spirit. She wrinkled her nose as she tried to shake the notion away, reopening her eyes and staring blankly at the bed sheets.

"What do you mean?" There was a noticeably more concerned tone to the other woman's voice now as she stared hard at the girl.

Shana only shook her head, hugging her legs tighter and letting several moments pass in mental turmoil before trying to put the feeling into words. "I hear and feel it inside me, like with Virage. But it isn't, um, 'calling me', exactly. It fills me with that same fear, but it- it somehow almost seems tender... and comforting."

"Shana," her friend began, her voice taking on an acute, stern tone. "I need you to remember as closely as you can when it was you first started hearing these 'whispers'."

"Wh- what?"

"When, Shana?" she repeated, sharper, and apprehensively impatient.

"Um..." A little taken aback, it was about a minute before the girl could straighten her mind enough to sift back through her thoughts. "I, um, think it was while I was unconscious. When everybody was fighting. But it stopped when Dart's father and-"

"I see." the woman quietly interrupted.

The span of silence that followed easily put Shana into a state of unease, just the intensity of the woman's hard expression enough to make her worry. She was sure she felt her stomach drop, a nervous quivering coming to her hands as she rested her chin atop her knees again and stared at the wall. "I started hearing it again about... a month ago, I guess." Another pause. "What... do you think it means?"

Nearly too soft to be heard, "I don't know."

Without even glancing over, Shana knew the look that the woman wore on her features. Brooding, she continued just staring blankly forward, after the passing of another minute asking in a solemnly expectant fashion, "There's something you aren't telling me... isn't there."

"I..." Lips tightening into a thin line, she mulled over how to word the answer. Moments passed, and still more after, the only sound amongst the empty still the gentle crackling of the flames playing about the stone confines of the fireplace. Giving up with an inaudible sigh, she hung her head, murmuring apologetically, "I didn't want to worry you any more than you already were."

"Please..." Shana pleaded weakly, her heart run through with that which she was all but certain of. "Just tell me."

Hesitating as she watched the reluctantly eager girl's eyes, the woman conceded with a single nod. "Something's going on. Something with implications that I don't even want to think about."

"How do you know? Do you hear voices, too?"

"No, nothing like that." her visitor answered, dismissing it with a little wave of her hand. "But from everything you've told me, I'm beginning to fear my own nightmares are more than just that."

The ex-dragoon's voice jumped an octave, her eyes darting here and there as if searching the walls of the room for the coherent thought she wanted to express. "What- what do you mean?"

A shake of the head. "Certain things have begun happening that shouldn't naturally. I shouldn't even be here. Something just... doesn't feel right. Like the calm before the storm. I'm sorry, Shana. I don't know how else to put it."

"...broken." Shana murmured distantly after a stretch of pensive silence.

"Hm?"

"The world is broken." she repeated, her tone having become disturbingly hollow.

"What?" the other woman just about snapped at her, quick strides bringing her back to the bed side. Fingers closing around the girl's arm, she gave a sudden tug, forcing her to look her in the face and demanding more so than asking, "What did you just say?"

For the briefest of moments the firelight playing across Shana's face cast her in an almost eerie aura, her deep brown eyes wide and gazing blankly into her friend's. "Fallen. Shattered. Pieces of the whole... separate and lost."

"Damnit, Shana!" she shouted as she shook the girl, mixed emotions of anger and frustrated anxiety suddenly swelling through her. "Don't you dare talk like that! Don't you _dare_!"

Though despite the thrashing of her body, Shana just sat there in that same dazed way, ignorant to the outburst and staring as if seeing right through the woman. "Heart, Soul, and Body... coming to reunite."

"No!" she shouted again. "It's over, do you hear me? No more!" She shook her again, harder, tightening her grip and feeling like she wanted to scream. Though when she thought about it, she wasn't all that certain it was really Shana whom she was yelling at.

"S- stop... Please! You- you're hurting me! Stop it!"

It wasn't until she realized that the girl in front of her had just about started crying that she released her hold and stepped back. "I- I'm sorry, Shana. I didn't mean-" Burying her face in hand, she took to leaning against the wall. She tried steadying herself with a slow breath, but the words remained etched into her mind, repeating themselves in her ears like a haunting whisper.

Shana sat still on the bed, gingerly cradling and rubbing at her arm. Her gaze was nothing less than fearful as she regarded the woman, her lip all but quivering and the beginnings of tears in the corners of her eyes. It was as though for those short few seconds she was a frightened little child, and those words resurfaced in her memory: 'Be strong.'

Dragging her hand down her face, the woman exhaled something between a groan and a sigh, glancing back over to meet the stare that was locked upon her. "It can't be. I won't believe it."

The brunette just sat there, huddling into herself beneath her blankets and trembling like a delicate flower. She didn't speak, but then she didn't need to. The look in her eyes said it all. As if waiting for something to happen she continued intently watching her company, her pale lips taught in a thin line.

"...what's wrong with you, Shana." the woman whispered mutedly under her breath, studying the girl's face and the whirling maelstrom of emotion in the depths of her stare. Her own countenance lightened some, but she was still wary to approach her friend, almost fearful of what she might receive as a reply.

Shana only turned her head back and forth once, somehow understanding. It seemed she was having just as difficult a time working up her voice, and when she finally managed it, it sounded like the nervous squeak of a small girl. "What... are you going to do?"

Turning away, her visitor slid her fingers around the doorknob and pulled gently, the hinges creaking with the moan of rusted metal. "I'm going to find Dart. Maybe he and-"

"I don't need Dart." Shana interjected, reiterating the avid claim she'd made to her mother just a short while earlier. "I'll be fine."

Her friend cast a sorrowful glance over her shoulder, finding herself momentarily at a loss for words. Shana was always like that, she thought, wanting so much to be as strong as she felt in her heart. But what she really saw was a sick little girl, shaky and huddled in her bed.

"How can you say that, Shana?" Her tone dipped into a sympathetic one, worry underlying her voice. "You... you look like you're _dying_ for godssake."

"I said I'll be fine!" Shana shouted back, her eyes filling with the same defiance she'd always had. Except there was something missing. In spite of her determination to convince her friend, it didn't seem like she actually believed it herself. But she just didn't want others worrying about her. She didn't want to be a _burden_.

_"I'm sorry. I'm such trouble, aren't I."_

_"I don't think so."_

_"Maybe I should have stayed in Hoax?"_

_"Are you serious?"_

Again, she scolded herself for letting her thoughts wander back in that direction, though she was broken from her lapse in attention when her visitor warned lowly, "You're acting like a stubborn child."

"You just don't understand!" Shana shot back, her voice dropping along with her gaze into a murmur. "...you couldn't understand."

The woman simply snorted, turning to ascend the stairs out of the basement room. "Fine. You wallow in self-pity all you want. But it won't do you any good."

The cry that wrenched itself from Shana's throat as her friend was halfway up the dusty stone steps spurred her to whip around on heel and run back down. Dainty hands clutched at messy chestnut hair, fingernails nearly digging into her scalp as she squirmed and curled into a ball on her side. Her jaw locking tight, a thin, piercing whine hissed out between her teeth, tears now freely flowing and running down her cheeks from eyes that were squeezed shut.

"What?" the other woman shouted as she reached the girl's side. She tried to pull Shana's hands away from her head to look her in the face, but would have ended up ripping out her hair along with them, clumps of it trapped in her fists. "What is it, Shana?"

"I... I don't- I don't know!" Again she cried out, her entire body stiffening. "It- it hurts!"

"What hurts, Shana?" she snapped urgently. "What's wrong?"

At first Shana only moaned, twisting underneath her covers and shoving her head deeper into the pillow. But as the fire across the room hissed and flared up in harmony with her pain and emotion, she just barely managed to force an answer, choking it out in a heavily strained effort. "Th- they're... coming..."

"Stop it and get a hold of yourself!" her friend yelled as she gripped Shana by the shoulders, trying to steady her. "Tell me! What's going on?"

She didn't have long to wait for an answer as a tremor ran through the ground, causing the blackened iron grate in front of the fireplace to rattle upon the hearthstones. A second followed seconds after, stronger than the first. The crystalline vases on the nightstand shifted with the harsh vibrations right over the edge and crashed noisily to the floor, water and flower petals spilling across the dusty stone tiles and shards of fragmented glass shivering as the earth shook yet again.

The heightened discord only seemed to further the shrill squealing from the ball of a human form shaking in her bed, her voice broken between the sobs. "It's c- coming. They're coming!"

By now her visitor had started screaming just to be heard above the rumblings and the incessant whimpering, even needing to restrain herself from striking the girl just to get her to quit. "Stop it, Shana! It's because of you, isn't it? _Isn't it_? Why are they alive, Shana? _Why_?"

She shook her hard, giving up with a growled hiss between her teeth when all she received in reply were more tears and more stuttering. Pushing herself away from the bed, she was practically knocked off her feet as the whole of the house was rocked by another quake, causing dust and gravel to shake loose of the wall and ceiling and pelt the floor. _This isn't supposed to be happening. This can't be happening. He's DEAD._

"I- I hear them... N- no. Nooo... Th- they're coming!"

"Stop it!" the woman snarled back, stumbling her way to the door.

_'My world. My future. Soon.'_

"M- make them s- stop! It hurts!" All Shana could do was lie there, shaking and crying. It swam through her head, invading her all over again. "Wh- why? No! Leave me alone!"

Reaching for the blade at her belt, the other threw the door open and dashed up the stairs, unceremoniously shoving past Shana's mother who was frightened ghost-white and to tears, nearly tripping over her feet trying to run down to her daughter. Racing up from the basement a familiar odor began permeating the woman's nostrils, and even as faint as it was, she knew it all too well.

_...smoke._

Bolting outside, weapon in hand, her eyes fell upon the roaring flames devouring the forest just outside the village... and from what she saw next, she stopped dead where she stood.

- o -

"_Guaraha!_"

An ear-piercing screech of bright, aquatic blue resonance accompanied the frightened cry, waves of blinding cerulean light washing over the paled features of the girl. Her bright scarlet eyes stared transfixed upon the glowing orb clutched between her hands, delicate fingers turning white from how tightly she was grasping the object.

She could still hear the sounds and see the images as clear as day, the black and crimson smoke rising up from the pile of burnt and bloody bodies strewn about the wasted remains of a village. It was like a graveyard from the Devildom, corpses stacked upon corpses. The smell of sizzling and rotting flesh and the heavy weight on the hazy air- it stung her mind like a blade through the skull.

Clumsy footsteps could be heard from the next room over, stumbling this way and that along with a startled grunt as the man nearly tripped over his own feet. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

There came no reply, the young wingly's attention for the moment focused solely on the pulsing stone within her grip, her shoulders trembling and teeth gnawing her bottom lip in nervous effort to keep it, too, from quivering. All she could seem to manage was staring down blankly, long wispy strands of silvery hue spilling over her smooth face and neck, caught and cast in the bluish glow of the cold sphere she held.

Cautiously making his way over and sitting beside her on the bed, Guaraha tenderly brushed aside a couple of the loose platinum strands, fingers trailing gently across her cheek. "Meru?"

Distantly, she whispered, "...the earth is surging again."

"What?" he blinked disconcertingly, letting his hand drop from her face and comfortingly wrap about her shoulders to still her trembling. "How do you mean?"

"...they're back." she whispered again, suddenly turning her head to lock her eyes with his own. "They came back! I don't know how but they came back!"

"Meru- Meru calm down." Guaraha pleaded, leaning his forehead to his fiancé's and lifting his hand to softly cup her chin. After the passing of a few moments, he tried again, sweeping a few more stray locks out of her face. "What's going on, Meru? What are you talking about?"

"They... they're going to swarm over the world! Shana! I saw her, I did!" The girl held her tongue a moment or three before continuing, dropping her gaze to the sheets of the bed. "I've never had such a nightmare..."

Quietly, "How do you know it wasn't just a dream, then?"

She glanced to the spirit that had finally dimmed in her grasp. "...because I could feel it like I was there. So many voices and so much pain. I could almost sense each flame of life being smothered out. There was sadness and fear and anger and hate all at the same time, and too much was happening for me to tell one thing from the other, but-"

Lifting his fingers to Meru's lips to hush her, he offered a soft 'Shh' and an understanding nod. "Do you think perhaps the dragon stone you carry had something to do with your dream?"

"I know it did." she frowned, her thin brow knitting inward. "I know it sounds crazy... and even though it was just a blur of images and feelings, I just _know_ something is going to happen. Something horrible."

"What, though? What is it that you think is going to happen?" he hesitantly asked, the unease growing in his voice.

Silence was the response the wingly received, the bed uttering a muffled groan as Meru shifted her weight upon it and turned her eyes toward the small patch of light filtering in through the window. The remainder of the room was cast in nocturnal darkness, only the man beside her and the bed upon which they sat even vaguely visible, save for the thin stretch of floor illuminated in the fluorescent glow.

It was still a while longer before the young woman could work past the worry hanging over her that maybe the threat of the god of destruction didn't end with the Moon's explosion. For now she could think of no other reason for the nightmare she'd had, but the part of her that wanted to believe it was over outweighed the doubt in her mind. Fingers idly turning over the Blue-Sea spirit, she eventually worked up her voice, though it slipped out as only a barely audible murmur.

"I... I'm not sure."

"Do you want to try contacting your friends?" he asked after another brief pause had passed between them.

Again, no reply. Slowly, the girl slid from the bed, bare feet coming down with a quiet thump against the chilly floor and silvery hair falling unbound to its full length just a bit beyond her posterior.

"Meru?"

"...will you come with me, Guaraha?" she whispered. "To Seles?"

"Seles? But didn't you say that-"

"I need to know for certain!" the watery dragoon interrupted, turning on her heel to glance back at him. "What if I'm right? What if Shana's in trouble? I adore her! Her and Dart and everybody!"

Guaraha's voice rose some as he, too, got to his feet, moving a couple of steps toward her. "What if you _are_ right? It'd be too dangerous to walk into something like that."

"I'm asking for your company, not your permission." the stubborn teenager retorted, almost pouting at her fiancé's reluctance. "I'll be going with or without you."

With a light sigh she scrunched her face into a tiny frown, setting her hands on her hips. "Or maybe if you don't want to I'll just go get Miranda and Al on the way there. They're not scaredy-cats like you."

The man would have been lying if he'd told himself that hadn't hurt a little a bit, but that's just the way Meru was. So forcing a half-smile to his lips he closed the distance between them and took the girl's hands into his own. "Meru... you know I'd go anywhere you needed me to."

"Well good!" she blurted out as she tried to maintain her sour expression, which failed miserably as a tiny smile of her own crept onto her face. "I really would've gone by myself if I had to, though!"

Guaraha's smile widened a little, the wingly offering her a nod. "I know."

Jumping up and throwing her arms around his neck, Meru caught him in a quick hug, then just as quickly turned him around and gave him a shove in the back toward the door. "Hurry up and get dressed, then!"

"All right, all right! I'm going!"

Closing the door behind him, the dragoon set about changing as well, though despite her energetic demeanor, the lingering dread crawled its way back into her mind, whispering to her the possibility of Melbu's survival. She tried many a time to shake it from her thoughts once she and Guaraha set out from the Wingly Forest, but it was always there, haunting her.

It didn't take long to reach Illisa Bay after clearing the Evergreen Forest, spectral wings carrying the both of them along the crisp nighttime air. The flight across the tranquil waters passed mostly in silence, the two simply enjoying the cool breezes wafting up off the bay and the sparkling light from the stars dotting the heavens overhead. However, something just beyond the southern horizon, where they estimated laid the coast of Tiberoa, struck their attention.

Narrowing her eyes, Meru peered to her companion then back, scrunching her nose. "What is...?"

A widened stare. "...oh goddess."

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**A/N:** It's about time I accomplished something. -_crosses fingers_- And here's hoping my work doesn't get wiped out again. I'll try to get the second chapter posted asap, but you know how fleeting motivation can be- so kindly bear with me here. Eheheh.


	3. Awakening Part I

**A/N:** I live! Well... kind of. Anyway- God knows I've probably tested the patience of people well beyond the limits of what I should have, so I thought I probably ought to update. Granted, this chapter isn't complete yet (hence the shortness), but I figured I was due to post _something_... so yea. Eheheh. Yes, I know; I'm horridly lazy.

* * *

**Anathema**

_chapter 2_

* * *

Billowing up in choking black plumes, the ashen smoke invaded the sky and littered the sea-scented breezes with the oppressive odor of dead, smoldering earth. It almost looked as though a storm was brewing, dark clouds of torched, earthen debris spilling ever-higher and blotting out the gentle starlight. The air itself looked as if it were burning, roping ribbons of steam hissing as they rose up off the boiling waves crashing against the continental cliff. Countless fish floated belly up amongst the volatile, churning waters, sloshed in the bubbling foam and scalded a bright pink.

Just inland, thousands of hotly glowing embers carried on the stale winds and blew over the towering rock face, tinting the sky an even deeper shade of red. Each was like a tiny wisp of fire, polluting the air with its thick, asphyxiating malodor and sapping away whatever moisture might have been carrying up from off the ocean, leaving behind only an arid desolace. The dusty clouds of brown and crimson hovered over the ground like a sooty fog of dry heat, cooking the very earth like an oven.

Charred black from the raging fires, the Tiberoan coast laid in ruin, the scorched and crusty soil strewn with pairs of massive, clawed impressions.

It looked like a scene straight out of a nightmare, dug up from the farthest depths of hell itself. Sliding a more than troubled look to his fiancé, Guaraha barely managed to raise his voice over the roar of the flames. "The... the entire shoreline is ablaze!"

"The ocean, too!" Meru shouted back, reaching to her breast and closing her fingers around the cerulean stone that rested there. "It looks like the earth is... dying..."

A muffled, yet still trembling crash from farther down the seaside ledge stole their attention away from the inferno, another thundering only a couple of moments after. The tremors only added to the infinitely noisy growl of the widespread flames, and they were followed by another, and another, the quakes seeming to echo more loudly with each. Though even from their lofty vantage point, the two winglies couldn't make much out below the rancorous oranges and reds that were devouring the coastline and masking it from sight.

Meru thought she might have spotted a few, faint shadows shifting in and out, but wasn't certain if they were really there, or if her eyes were just playing tricks on her due to the constant wavering of the wildfire. It wasn't until the screeching hiss that pierced its way up from the blurry mass of grey amidst the pyrestorm that they caught their first glimpse.

Breath catching in her throat, Meru could only stare as the sickeningly familiar shape moved within the flickering wreathes of heat, her fist subconsciously clenching tighter around her dragon stone. "It- it can't be..."

"Meru!" Guaraha yelled, grabbing her by the arm and pointing in a direction just to the right of where she'd been staring.

The silhouette of another hulking form was stalking forward through the sea of flame, and another not far behind it. They seemed to be wandering without any real direction, looking almost as if they were searching for something. The echoing crashes hastened as the leather-hided giants lumbered toward the ledge, pieces of the cliff crumbling beneath the shock of the seismic footsteps and careening down into the tumultuous waters below. Even the fires seemed to shudder and part at their approach, licking harmlessly at their stone-hued skin.

Less than a minute later a fourth emerged, dragging itself along on three limbs, an entire leg missing from the colossal creature. So rapt were the winglies with the first of the creatures they'd seen that the last went almost unnoticed, until it, too, screamed at them with that awful shriek. No matter how many times Meru heard the cry of the demons, it still chilled her blood and pricked at her heart, loosing that feeling of worry all over again.

"...Virage." she whispered shakily, just about curling into a ball in mid-air. For the briefest of moments, she was reminded of the sight of them swarming over the Divine Tree, harbingers to the world's end.

Guaraha shot her an urgent look, taking her hand and trying to pull her higher into the sky with him. "Come on, Meru!"

"It- it's Virage!" she repeated frantically, meeting his gaze for only a second before pulling her arm away and turning her eyes back upon the ancient beasts. "This can't be right! He's dead! We saw the Moon explode!"

"What's going on?" the other wingly shouted again, more so confused now than anything. "I thought you said that without the Virage Embryo, they couldn't survive?"

"I... I don't know! Maybe they-" Her face paled as a realization struck her, her head promptly snapping down the shore to the left. "Oh my God! Donau! If they go any farther east they'll find Donau! We have to-"

"But wait a minute! What about Shana? Isn't that why we're-"

"_Guaraha watch out!_"

The air itself split as a blistering column of screaming energy surged past, the sky steaming and sizzling with magic in its wake. A shrill cry hissing up from another of the monsters below, a second blast of crackling power ripped its way skyward toward the couple, missing by mere inches and searing the edges of their clothing as they threw themselves from its path. Even several moments after the dissipation of the supercharged beams, the air still smoked, burnt to a crisp just as easily as the still-growing flames were torching the coastline.

The fiery light splaying across the dull, grey hides of the mammoth creatures gave them an even more hellish appearance, bathed in the heated, angry glow. Though the next flash to illuminate the smoking crimson sky was that of a brilliant aqua blue, already the threads of arctic magic weaving together as the wingly shot herself downward.

"Meru!" Guaraha cried as he dove down after her. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"It's too late!" Loosing the frigid energies, the dragoon watched as the spell slammed right into the face of the nearest Virage. As the cold, glittering mist lingered behind and smothered its grotesque visage, several body-length icicles suddenly froze into being and gouged into three of its six eyes, earning an ear-piercing wail that caused Meru's head to pound.

She twirled back up into the sky not a second later, whipping a frightened look across the hazy air to her fiancé. "They'll only follow us if we try to run!"

Helplessly the man hovered higher up, grasping for words. He couldn't just let her take all of them on by herself, but there wasn't much he believed he could actually do, either. Nervously biting his lip as he watched the girl barely twist out of the clawed reach of the beast she'd injured, he swallowed the lump in his throat and threw himself into the fray as well. "I'm coming, Meru!"

Frosty energies swirled and coalesced about the dragoon's hands as she worked her fingers in a looping pattern, the magics emanating a fluorescent turquoise glow as they solidified into a huge icy javelin. Rearing back her arm, she pitched herself forward again and aimed her weapon for the Virage's face, but had to change direction at the last moment to wrench herself away from the pulsing pillar of light that came from another of the monsters. The scalding waves of heat that remained in its passing scorched the air dry, leaving a bright red burn on Meru's arm as she plummeted sharply to escape another blind swipe of razor claws.

A grimace twisting its way onto her paled face, she forced herself forward and spiraled between the Virage's legs, shooting through the hungry flames and turning to level herself out behind the colossus. Sucking in a quick breath, she re-aimed the frozen shard with a narrow glare, and then hurriedly thrust it forward.

The icy point sunk cleanly in with a sickening crack of the Virage's husk, slickly piercing straight through and emerging out from its face at an angle. Gelatinous green spurted from both puncture wounds as it howled in a maddening cry, stumbling forward only a few paces- the giant shard still lodged in its body- before toppling over as it tried to turn around and crashing to the ground in a quaking, thunderous boom. The next thing the dragoon knew, she was grabbed from behind and swallowed in a blink of illumination, a shrill squeal of surprise leaping from her throat.

"Meru! Meru, it's okay!" Guaraha yelled, promptly letting her go. "It's just me!"

"Wh- what just-?"

A couple hundred meters below their feet one of the behemoths raged at them with a terrible roar. And it wasn't until she took a good look that Meru saw a gaping, steaming hole burned into the body of the Virage she'd attacked, the other's pulse magic having blasted right through before the first could even fall completely to the ash-littered ground. It took only a second after to realize that if Guaraha hadn't warped them when he did, she would have been incinerated.

"Oh Divine Tree, that was close!"

"This is crazy, Meru!" he blurted out. "There are too many of them! I was lucky I was able to grab you in time, but we might not get so lucky agai- Meru, are you okay?"

The adrenaline rush subsiding, the dragoon now felt the intense sting consuming her arm, eyes wincing shut as she clasped a gauntleted hand over the burn. Her skin was a shade of scarlet to rival her eyes, and already was beginning to peel. "It... it's nothing. I can-"

"Don't be ridiculous! You're hurt! You have to-"

A sudden gasp tore from his lips as he had to throw himself into action as yet another searing attack barreled its way toward them, both winglies swooping low to get underneath the crackling beam. Biting down on her lip, Meru forced herself away once regaining her balance, crystalline wings shooting off a burst of aqua illumination and propelling her back down toward the creatures.

"Don't-!" Guaraha screamed after her, but unable to follow as he had to, again, shunt himself out of the way as the Virage stubbornly continued their attacks.

In an almost entrancing display, Meru shot past the crippled Virage like a bullet, the frigid, glowing trail of energy left behind in her wake leaving a strange sort of gap bored through the hazy heat of the flames. Its clumsy attack missed her by a long shot, leaving only a stream of smoking air that criss-crossed with the dragoon's flight trail, the energies sparking erratically as they came into contact with one another.

Coming upon the other two, the girl swept to the side to evade the massive claw coming for her, then set to corkscrewing up and around the pair. She zipped this way and that to keep out of the reach of the heavy swings of tree trunk arms, her heart beating faster, knowing the dangerous risk she took by daring to come so close to the monsters. In and out she weaved, succeeding in drawing the Virage's attacks in such a manner that the two actually landed blows on one another as they missed the tiny blue firefly flashing across their vision.

The first lost balance and tumbled to the ground in a heavy rumble, the second nearly tripping over its boulder-sized feet as it stumbled backward. Screeching again with that horrid, grating hiss, both stared pointedly at the dragoon as she rocketed straight up and leveled off a few hundred feet above.

Twirling her wrist over her head, freezing, sparkling magics began spiraling in around her outstretched arm, siphoning into a rapidly growing pool of brightly glowing cold. Watching Meru from his place higher up, Guaraha caught sight of the legless Virage propping itself up and staring decisively at her. In a moment's realization and panic, he warped himself in, bursting into the monster's vision in a flash of emerald green. He pressed both hands to the squishy tissue of its face, quickly powering up and blasting a burning sphere of flame at point blank range.

The scream of the Virage was more out of surprise than pain, only mildly blinded by the fiery surprise attack. Lashing out with one clawed appendage as it fell backward under its own weight, it caught the wingly square across the back, knocking him wildly through the air.

A gurgled cry bubbled up from Guaraha's throat as he tumbled downward, feeling something warm and slick welling up over his skin. Wings of light flickered out of being a couple of meters above the steaming ground, the man landing with a grunt and collapsing into a semi-conscious heap, beginning to choke on the thickly contaminated air. Craning his neck, he could just barely make out Meru through the suffocating smoke, the swirling magic over her head now even brighter than the ocean of fire crackling around him.

Aiming at the Virage that had fallen over after having been struck by its own, Meru pointed her free palm at its stony form, twin pools of crimson hardening as her brow knitted tighter in concentration. A vapory mist began materializing around the giant, ice crystals and feathery snowflakes condensing upon both the ground and the titanic monster, keeping it from moving just for the moment as it continued to spread into a miniature glacier. Jaw tightening, her hand clasped around her wrist, her arm tensing and then whipping down at the Virage as the words of the spell snaked off her tongue.

"Diamond Dust!"

All the magic she'd been collecting throbbed with a howl, exploding into brilliance and surging down in a freezing wave, the spell leaving behind a comet-like tail of fluorescent icy glitter. The temperature of the air sunk dramatically as the wave of subzero energies flooded forward, and as the magic impacted, it flared wildly in a cold, echoing hiss, everything below instantly frozen solid. The abrupt, severe difference in temperatures caused the air to steam all the more, already the edges of the ice beginning to melt away from the hungry licking of the flames. The arctic spell coming to completion, the glacier began to crack, along with the lower half of the Virage that had been caught and frozen with it... and then shattered like glass.

Its legs, forearms, torso, and even one side of its head simply broke away like a crumbling piece of pottery as the ice from the magic burst, the beast falling hard onto its side- or what was left of it- and leaking its remaining blood profusely from the missing part of its skull. A weak, almost whimpering sound whistled from the dying creature's face, its eyes wiggling on their stalks and staring at the dragoon until it fell limp, its last breath like a giant mass of air collapsing.

The Virage that had been only footsteps away caught but the edges of the spell, run through the side with a stray shard from when the magic erupted, and an arm dismembered from where it was flash frozen and shattered along with the ice. Its blazing attack, accompanied by a scream of anger, just barely missed Meru's wings, the girl reciprocating with a scream of her own as she shot herself backward and down to avoid the blast of the Virage that Guaraha had attacked, which had by now managed to right itself up again.

Out of control from the reeling spin she'd thrown herself into, there was nothing the wingly could do to escape the arm crashing down at her. In the next moment a crushing weight slammed against her, burning, acute pain racking her body and sending her hurtling toward the earth.

"_Meru!_"

She hit the ground like a stone, an ashen plume of dust spraying up from her impact. Almost immediately she felt the oppressive heat of the fires now surrounding and towering over her- an angry wall of heat that felt to her as if it was sapping away her strength. The dragoon armor did little to cushion the force of the fall, and for the first several seconds after hitting, her body stung so badly she couldn't move. It was as though the pain numbed her body to her commands, even despite her desperate will for it to obey as she saw the Virage looming over her and lifting one massive foot, moving to literally crush her like a bug.

She tensed and squeezed her eyes shut, cried out in a fearful squeal, and prepared for what would make the pain she was feeling now seem like nothing at all, her blood running ice cold even amidst the ocean of flame she was trapped within. But- it never came. She waited... waited... and waited for several moments more before, confused, she peeked one eye open and dared a look, expecting to already have been flattened.

What she saw caught her both by surprise, and by disbelieving relief. The monster's massive foot had come down, but it was not the wingly it had ended up stepping on. At first all Meru could make out was the fiery glint off of golden alloy, in which she could nearly see her own reflection, platinum hair smudged filthy with dirt and ash. The aqua hue of twin wings snatched her attention next, and finally the realization that it was, in fact, holding off the Virage.

"K- Kongol!"

With a deep, guttural roar, the giganto- strength enhanced more than tenfold through the raw power of the Golden Dragoon Spirit- threw the Virage off to the point that it lurched several meters in reverse and crashed to the ground, just about doubling over backwards and landing with a thundering boom. The sea of flames itself seemed to tremble beneath the quake, several cracks breaking through the burnt and brittle earth beneath the Virage's colossal weight.

"Is Meru okay?"

"Y- yea!" she stuttered, still a little taken aback by Kongol's sudden appearance. "Boy do I owe ya one! Where'd you come from?"

His attention refocusing on the Virage as it started moving again, beginning to get up, he offered Meru a curt, "Fight now, talk later. You help friend." before taking his deadly axe into hand and rushing at the beast with another war cry.

"Be careful!" Meru called after him, taking to the sky herself a second later, though be it in the opposite direction.

Quickly glancing around, concern immediately took hold again as she caught a glimpse of Guaraha pulling himself along the ground, hacking on the soot floating in the air. But what's more was that the cripple Virage was moving toward him. A burst of cerulean light from her wings as she shot down and she was soon beside him, dragging him out of the flames and toward the cliff edge.

"Guaraha! Guaraha please be okay!"

"I- I think I'm fine..." he coughed out, face contorting into a grimace as Meru's hand moved over his back.

Frowning at the scarlet liquid on her fingertips, her eyes widened, her face blanching a hue almost paler than her hair. "You don't look fine! I've gotta get you outta here."

"But- the Virage?"

"No buts!" she scolded. "Kongol's got it covered. Now c'mon, try'n'get up!"

A fair distance from where Meru had been pulling Guaraha to safety, the golden dragoon was practically picking the Virage apart piece by piece, dismembering the creature by cleaving it repeatedly with his massive weapon. Its remaining arm had already been lost, and it had resorted to trying to blast its enemy from the sky, several dry vapor trails skewing the air in every which direction. Its eyes squirmed on their stalks, following the giganto in flight and trying to focus long enough to aim a blast that would actually hit.

As Kongol moved for its leg next, the behemoth managed a kick that connected, sending the giganto sprawling over the flame-cooked ground much the same way it had Meru, razor talons groaning with a grating scrape against the golden armor. At first it didn't look as though the dragoon would get up, but the widening fissure that suddenly opened up in the expanse between himself and the Virage revealed otherwise. One of its pillar-like legs losing balance from the minor quake and sinking into the growing chasm, the Virage toppled over onto its knees, and then onto its side as it had nothing left with which to brace itself.

The clumsy shot of the legless Virage was swiftly avoided as Kongol flew at the one straining to get up. A rising arc brought him directly above the monster, and- gripping the axe's shaft in both hands- he threw himself straight down with a roar. The blow landed to the Virage's head was so intense it was split like a log, all the way down through its face, severing one side entirely from the other. The added force slammed it flat to the ground, breaking open the sundered halves even further. To say that the amount of green that oozed from the fatal wound was sickening would have been an understatement.

Kongol, having passed through the Virage with his weapon, was coated in it now, spitting a good deal from his lips and choking out a disapproving, "Yuck. Kongol not do that again."

The originally cripple, and only remaining Virage could be seen charging up its attack from where it'd dragged itself nearer, staring straight at the giganto. Hefting his axe, he threw himself forward, flying just a foot or so above ground level, dust and ash spitting up in a trail behind him as he raced for the giant. Though at the last second, the Virage changed its aim, releasing the blistering energies straight for the two winglies at the cliff's edge.

Meru still helping her fiancé along, her back to the battle, it was only Guaraha who saw the attack surging their way, barely having the time to scream out a panicked, "_Meru watch out!_"

The earth in front of them exploded in a fury of fire and broken stone as the Virage's searing beam tore forward to engulf them. The couple was blown clear off the cliff, tumbling down along with the surrounding debris of charred and molten rock, all falling into the ocean with a horrible splash. The foaming ripples that plowed against the shore washed over the rocks with a steaming hiss, a red tint diluting into the turbulent waters. A few lesser boulders dislodged themselves from the gaping half-crater embedded into the side of the cliff as the aftershock of thunder from the attack shook the air, plowing into both the still-steaming seafoam and rocky shore.

Guaraha broke surface first, gasping loud and hard from both the need for air and the insufferable stinging of the salt water into the gash on his back. Hand clamped around the stem of her wing, he pulled Meru onto the boulder-strewn beach beside him, propping her up against him and wiping away the dripping strands of silvery blue matted across her face. Anxious and hurriedly he tried to shake the girl back into coherence, gaze pointedly fixed on the monster heading their way from above.

"Come on, Meru! Come on!"

"...ooogghh."

"Meru!" he tried again, giving her another shake. "We've got to-!"

The sudden upheaval of the sea in front of them warranted their immediate attention, eyes snapping toward the violently boiling spray. Slowly but surely a massive grey head emerged from beneath the raging waters, the unwelcome visage of yet a fifth demon manifesting and wading toward the coast. With another Virage now closing in on them, Guaraha had just about lost hope, gaze quite more than wide and trembling.

"Meru, please!" he pleaded desperately. "If you don't snap out of it, we're finished!"

Eyelids fluttering, the bruised and battered wingly tried to steady herself, vision blurred and ears ringing. "Guaraha... I can't..."

Helping to keep her upright, he spared a quick look over his shoulder to the other Virage that had reached the cliff's edge, though for the moment- thank the gods- it seemed occupied with Kongol. "Please try, Meru! You have to! Just focus!"

"I... I..."

A brief flicker of magic and her eyes fell shut, a blinding radiance of aqua blue engulfing her. Going limp in Guaraha's arms as she fell unconscious, she exhaled a faint whimper, the now dull dragon stone returning to its place hanging lifelessly from her necklace.

"Meru?" Frozen and staring at the monster approaching from the ocean, he struggled to give the girl another jostle, heartbeat quickening. "Meru? Meru!"

No response... except for the seismic sloshing of the ocean as yet _another_ Virage penetrated the surface, lumbering along behind the one that'd risen up first, its arms lashing as if to sweep the sea away and render the journey to shore less difficult. It bellowed in that bone-chilling cry that sounded like both a wail and a hiss in unison, the sweeping of its massive arms causing the shore to be dashed in wild, foaming waves.

"Oh Soa save us..."

A shrieking scream tore the wingly's eyes over, his quivering gaze falling upon the nearer of the two ancient creatures that was staring directly at them, magic swarming into pearly brilliance in front of its wriggling eye-stalks. A glance to the cliff told him that Kongol still had his hands tied, the faint din of sharp, stony claws clattering against hardened steel echoing down from the top of the wasted rock face's edge. The ledge still seemed to be cracking, threatening to buckle under the weight of the beast and drop it all on top of them.

Again came that cry from in front of him, and all Guaraha could do was stare back at the Virage about to blast them into nothingness. That is- until the blinding flash from the firing of its pulse magic caused him to squeeze his eyes shut, the energies splitting the air with a quaking thundercrack to follow.

"Hang on, you two!"

In the next moment, everything was swallowed in light.

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**A/N:** To be continued in part II. I feel so ashamed...


End file.
